Mighty Warrior Is Scared but Faithful
[11] Now the angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. [12] And the angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, “The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor.”
[13] And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.”
[14] And the LORD turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?”
[15] And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”
[16] And the LORD said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”
Just when you started to wonder if God could really use somebody as questioning and doubtful as you or one of your friends, along comes Gideon. Gideon is a scaredy-cat from the beginning. When you would beat out wheat, you would do it up on a hillside where a breeze would blow away the chaff. Gideon is down in a winepress. The floor is hard and everything runs downward, not up and off into the wind. He is hiding all of his food and livelihood from the Midianites.
God isn’t stopped by his fear. God calls Gideon as He sees Him and states the truth.
God is with you mighty man of valor
Gideon shows how brave he is right off the bat by questioning God. After all of the years of hardship, it seems justified that he would have some bitter questions. These are his version of If God is so good then why…?”He asks for good deeds from God and deliverance, but God is asking that from Gideon!
Gideon again questions God, but this time it’s not based on the perceived absence of God, but on the perceived weakness of Gideon. He doesn’t see himself the way God sees him.
Gideon says he is the weakest man of the weakest family of the weakest tribe of Israel.
God says Gideon is a mighty man of valor (bravery, boldness, and a bit of a show-off).
There are a lot of things that the Bible says about those that believe in Jesus. Every day we have the same choice to make that Gideon made.
Are we going to believe what God says about us or our own selves?
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